Advertising Stories

How Do You Win Webby Awards? Super Strategic Basic 'Agency' And CEO Matt Faulk Are Not Remotely Basic.

Here is some insightful inspiration for you and your agency all the way from California. Hear how Basic, a winner, wins notoriety, the trust of leading clients, and the industry...  should help you grow your own agency - and career.

Meet Matt Faulk, the CEO of Basic, a multi-office branding & digital design & experience "advertising" agency that works with uber-creative clients like Google, Airbnb, Patagonia, Apple, and Beats by Dre.

Check out our conversation about the agency, its vision, where the world of marketing must go, and how Basic grows its client roster by just being seriously good at what they do.

Want more? Basic is a supersonic Webby Awards winner (check out this list), more than like anyone. Let's face it, awards are a good thing. The right ones get you more clients. Here is my master list of advertising and design awards.

In addition to having a stellar client and program history, Basic also delivers one of the smartest, coolest, and well-listened to advertising podcasts in the biz - BRANDBEATS.

A nice thing for me… Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

Kent Lewis - Portland's Digital Agency Anvil Beats The Big Agencies.

Listen to how an agency owner drives business, delivers strong digital marketing opinions, and discusses how important community work is.

Kent Lewis is the founder and President of Portland's Anvil Media, a small digital advertising agency. "Small" is in many ways a bad definer since Anvil drives large client business better than the mega agencies. Anvil is known for its expertise in delivering analytics, search engine, and social media marketing services.

Anvil and Kent have been recognized across the universe having won recognition including Oregon Business Magazine: 100 Best Places to Work: Portland Business Journal's Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies and Clutch's Top Pay-per-Click and SEO Agency in America. Kent was also named one of Portland's 40 under 40.

Kent is the founder of pdxMindshare and SEMpdx and its Engage Marketing Conference event. His give-back genes rule.

A nice thing for me… Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

Part Two: Rob Walch of Libsyn and Podcast411 - The Lowdown On The Birth & Growth Of Podcasting In This 2006 Interview.

You know this, right? The word Podcast comes from the combination of iPod and broadcast. You know that Apple made podcasting what it is today? You also know that the beauty of podcasting is the instant delivery to your device via an RSS feed.? But, do you really know all of the early history? This episode of Advertising Stories will bring you up to speed.

By mid-2006 Rob Walch had already recorded 149 episodes on his popular podcast411 show. He also knew more about podcasting than anyone in the industry, still is, and he is brutally articulate in this 2006 interview.

One interesting point rob makes is that today's politicians should use podcasting to get their message out. Podcasting is free; it is not controlled by the FCC; it can be any length and is very personal. It is 2020... where are the political podcasts? No, not the ranting shows. The shows from the candidates themselves.

This entertaining and informative conversation was first recorded in 2006 on my advertising agency's podcast series, The 360 View. I had just started a marketing podcast, a bit early, but knew that I needed Rob's perspective on this burgeoning communication platform. He was right then and continues to be an industry visionary.

Rob has been a leader in the world of podcasting since 2004. No one knew more about where podcasting was and IS now going than Rob. Rob's podCast411 is where it all started and is worth a visit. If you are a broadcaster, publisher, or listener, Rob's history and insights will help you understand why podcasting is booming.

Make sure you meet Rob on LinkedIn -- plus he is now VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn. There will soon be a follow-up episode. Stay tuned.

Check out Part One:  Rob Walch | Predicting The Future Of Podcasting. Was He Right? Spoiler Alert... Yes. | EP: 004

A nice thing for me... Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

Fear Can Be A Great Motivator In The World Of Advertising. Or, It Can Be Debilitating. Pick One.

The feeling of "fear" can be a part of everyday life at many advertising agencies. Fear of losing a valuable client; fear of not winning a new business pitch; fear of slow growth; fear of not being able to sell in that great idea; fear for your job or slow career growth... I'll stop there.

Fearless Don Tolep discusses advertising agency fear. But more importantly, how to overcome fear to win.

Don has won lots of new clients and pitches and Tellys. He is a master at business development. He lives near the beach. OK, but better, he is the Creative Brand Strategist at Florida's OGK Creative. He grows his clients and grows the agency. A good combo.

A nice thing for me... Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

Michael Donahue Has Many Letters to His Name. DFS, S&S, L'eggs, 4A's, and ANA.

Michael Donahue is going to tell us about how a brand can be born, grow to greatness, and die. Nothing is forever in brand land.

Michael, an original Mad Men man, has been an Executive Vice President and Board member at Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising; EVP at The Association Of American Advertisers and Senior Director Of The Association Of National Advertisers. He is also the tallest man in advertising. And, if that was not all, he did in fact urge the advertising industry in the 1990s to move into the world of digital marketing using his exalted position at the 4A's.

This interview covers the birth, life, and death of one of America's best-known brands - Sara Lee's L'eggs. Michael ran this account. He also managed to corral ZZ Top and the Radio City Rocketts for the brand's advertising - two names not usually associated with any brand at the same time.

We will also discuss what the Association Of National Advertisers is and does for mankind.

Here is Michael on LinkedIn.

And this: History Of L'eggs Pantyhose Plus TV Commercials

A nice thing for me… Feedspot has already recognized Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast.

How To Go From Advertising Copywriter To Fiction Author

Kathy has written advertising copy for mega-brands like Nike, Dr. Martens, Harrah's, and Subway. Her wordsmithing has won numerous awards. But more importantly, it has led her to a life of writing fiction.

Kathy, well actually Kathleen Valenti, is the author of Protocol, 39 Winks and As Directed all part of the Maggie O'Malley Mystery Series, published by Henery Press.

Our talk covers the skills required to be a powerful copywriter and author. Many of these skills are required to build characters, stories, and hold a reader's attention. Skills that work for both a Nike and a murder mystery series. Kathy's fourth book is in the works.

You can meet Kathy, the copywriter on LinkedIn here. And, Kathleen the fiction writer here.

Rob Walch of Libsyn and Podcast411 Predicted The Future Of Podcasting In This 2006 Interview.

He was right.

Rob has been a leader in the world of podcasting since 2004. No one knew more about where podcasting was and IS now going than Rob. Rob's podCast411 is where it all started and is worth a visit. If you are a broadcaster, publisher, or listener, Rob's history and insights will help you understand why podcasting is booming.

This entertaining conversation was first recorded in 2006 on my advertising agency's podcast, The 360 View. I had just started a marketing podcast, a bit early, but knew that I needed Rob's perspective on this burgeoning communication platform. He was right then and continues to be an industry visionary.

Make sure you meet Rob on LinkedIn -- plus he is now VP of Podcaster Relations at Libsyn. There will soon be a follow-up episode. Stay tuned.

Nancy Berger Discusses The History Of Fashion Marketing.

Has any category been as disrupted as fashion marketing? Not many.

Nancy knows. She ran sales and marketing at Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Valentino, and Dolce & Gabbana. Plus she consulted for Conde Nast. Wow.

Today, Nancy runs Grace Group, a leading global fashion marketing consultancy. I talked with Nancy about the past, present, and future of fashion and luxury marketing. We covered magazine advertising, PR, fashion shows, and the move to social media and, importantly, Instagram. Fashion marketing has been... well, very disrupted.

You will hear about everything from the crazy world of million-dollar runway shows and the slow death of fashion retail to today's leading influencers including the agility of Danielle Bernstein and savvy marketing brands like Doen and Chloe.

Adidas - The Worst New Business Presentation Ever

This is one of the worst advertising stories I've ever participated in. In the early 1990s, I was the European Bussiness Development Director in Saatchi & Saatchi Advertising Worldwide's London office. One day Maurice Saatchi asked me to run a pitch for the global Adidas account.

We had everything working for us. Maurice and Charles Saatchi, a team of London's best creatives, an Adidas CEO who loved us, the support of Adidas America. Unfortunately, we also had some baby seals that were beaten on ice flows as a creative metaphor that illustrated our global strategy.

Check out this story if you want to learn about huge pitch mistakes that were made by the best in the business. The blog version of this advertising story has been read over 13,000 times and it is a central story in my book: The Levitan Pitch. Buy This Book. Win More Pitches.

A nice to say: Feedspot has already named Advertising Stories as being a top 15 advertising podcast. 

Peter Levitan’s Advertising Stories delivers unvarnished stories from glib advertising agency creative directors, account managers, CEOs, media geniuses, and even agency big brand clients. 

We’ll talk about creating ads, trying to sell them, not selling them, making the logo bigger, my dad likes this idea better, how I lost that account, plus ad agency hijinks across six continents. 

Peter’s friends are a globe’s worth of glib, over-educated storytellers that have delivered really important cultural messages like, “Taste The Rainbow”, “What’s In Your Wallet”, “Where’s The Beef” and Uzbekistan Airlines’… “Good Luck”

Join Advertising Stories every week for an off-the-rails conversation with the ad and marketing world’s experts that sell you things you may, or, may not ever need.

Get to know Peter right here.